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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358571">Bea's 2020 Reylo Miscellany</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/niennathegrey/pseuds/niennathegrey'>niennathegrey</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the short stuff [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Mild Sexual Content</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:54:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,682</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358571</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/niennathegrey/pseuds/niennathegrey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of the Tumblr ficlets and Twitter microfics I wrote in 2020.</p><p>All ratings, prompts, content/trigger warnings, etc. will be noted at the start of each chapter.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the short stuff [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658749</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Reylo Week 2020 → Day 2 (April 28, 2020)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Rating: G</p><p>Prompt: <b><span class="u">"Mythology / Legends / Fairy Tales"</span></b></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Kylo Ren, née Ben Solo, is a figure out of an old wives’ tale: it is his appointed task to walk through people’s dreams at night, turning them foul or fair as the need arises. He’s seen all manner of fancies and fantasies—millions upon millions over all his long years—but none have called out to him the way Rey Niima’s do. When he sees her dreams, he feels her emotions as keenly as if they were his own: sorrow, loneliness, hope, awe.</p><p>He cannot bear to send her any more pain than what the visions of her past already give her. Thus, he brings her the sweetest dreams he can instead, and dares not admit that he falls a little more in love with her each night.</p><p>(Yet— Kylo does not have <em>full</em> power over dreams. The ones Rey has—of taking the hand of a tall, darkly handsome man; of reaching up to trace his cheek—are hers and hers alone.)</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Reylo Week 2020 → Day 3 (April 29, 2020)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rating: G</p><p>Prompt: <b><span class="u">"Reincarnation"</span></b></p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Side A: Ben remembers first</strong>
</p><p> He remembers before she does.</p><p>In their next life, they’re neighbors, though they don’t interact much other than occasionally passing each other in the lobby or yelling to <em>hold the elevator!</em> But one day, Ben sees Rey look up from her phone, a bright, triumphant grin on her face—and he feels a bit like he’s been hit with a two-by-four.</p><p><em>I know that smile,</em> he thinks dazedly, later when he’s alone in his apartment. And then: <em>I know </em>her.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <strong>Side B: Rey remembers first</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>She remembers before he does.</p><p>In their next life, they’re neighbors, though they don’t interact much other than occasionally passing each other in the lobby or yelling to <em>hold the elevator!</em> But one day, Rey passes by Ben as he talks on his phone. She hears him say, “Bye, Mom,” and sees him smile—small and almost reluctant, but full of affection nonetheless.</p><p>Rey suddenly feels a bit like she’s walked headfirst into a wall.</p><p><em>I know that smile,</em> she thinks dazedly, later when she’s alone in her apartment. She can’t explain it, it sounds absolutely <em>bonkers</em>, but somehow she knows that her quiet, polite neighbor has dimples and slightly crooked teeth and that his eyes crinkle at the corners when he’s really, really happy. And then she realizes: <em>I know</em> him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Reylo Week 2020 → Day 4, part 1 (April 30, 2020)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Rating: T</p><p>Prompt: <b><span class="u">"Canon Divergence"</span></b></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>There are many, many kinder universes out there where Ben Solo and Rey of Jakku get their happy ending. In one of them, Ben chooses to follow in his (in)famous father’s footsteps. One day, he has to meet a contact for a drop on Jakku, and he hates it already—seriously, of all places in the galaxy, why that Force-forsaken dustball? </p><p>Then he meets a plucky scavenger named Rey. </p><p>Now, Ben’s never been one to lose his head over a girl. But Rey tips him off to a double-cross and stands by him when the deal goes south, and that’s that—he’s dead gone on her now. He knows there’s no one else <em>(sorry, Dad, Uncle Chewie, Lando)</em> he’d rather have on his ship and at his side.</p><p>“Come with me,” he asks her, when the fighting’s done and they’re the only ones left standing in the wreckage of Niima Outpost. She burns too bright, has too much <em>life </em>in her to waste it on this backwater. </p><p>She wavers for an instant, glancing over her shoulder at the endless, shifting sands. Then she shakes her head, smiles up at him, and says, “Okay.”</p><p>Ben and Rey Solo become—if such a thing is possible—even more notorious throughout the galaxy than even Han Solo and Chewbacca. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re married; maybe it’s their 99.9% success rate. More likely it’s a combination of both. They’re truly partners—in crime, in bed, in love.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Reylo Week 2020 → Day 4, part 2 (April 30, 2020)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Rating: T</p><p>Prompt: <b><span class="u">"Canon Divergence"</span></b> (yes, another one, because I was having way too much fun to quit.)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>In another of those kinder universes, Ben honors the legacy of the Skywalker family’s women and enters politics. He becomes the Senator of Chandrila, and his mighty principles and sometimes ungentle tongue win him both admirers and enemies in equal number. He thinks his mother and grandmother would be proud.</p><p>Nevertheless, the existence of said enemies prompts Luke to assign a Jedi to guard Ben—one of his most promising students, so he says. “I wouldn’t trust anyone else with the safety of my favorite nephew,” Luke says, his gravity belied by a wry twinkle in his eye.</p><p>“I’m your only nephew,” Ben retorts. </p><p>The slender girl at his uncle’s side muffles a snort of laughter with her fist. Ben is charmed, oddly gratified, and perplexed at himself, all at once. </p><p>For her part, Rey— </p><p>Well, okay, in some ways, Senator Ben Organa Solo <em>is</em> pretty much what she’d expected, and yet also very much <em>not </em>what she’d expected in others. He <em>can </em>be a bit of a pompous ass at times; but at least he doesn’t doubt her abilities just because she happens to be both young and female. It’s more the general presence of a bodyguard that he objects to, rather than <em>her </em>specifically. But once she’s made it clear that no amount of cool, patrician disdain or childish surliness is going to scare her off, their dynamic slowly progresses towards something like friendship. </p><p>Rey finds she likes being around Ben. Watching him address the Senate makes pride swell in her chest. She smiles, widely and toothily, whenever she sees him receive congratulations or thanks from his constituents. But perhaps her favorite part of the job is the moments when he’s not in meetings or entertaining guests, when it’s just the two of them in the companionable quiet of his office. She either meditates or watches Coruscant bustle around them; he reads and drafts and signs lots of very important paperwork, occasionally talking through ideas with her even though she’s told him lots of times she has no head for politics. </p><p>Then someone slips poison into Ben’s whiskey, and they nearly lose him. Rey weeps beside Ben’s bed in the medcenter, too distraught to pay attention to the medical droids’ clucking and fussing. “I should have seen it, Ben, I’m so s-sorry— I <em>failed</em>, I failed you, I-I’ll ask Master Luke for a replacement right now—”</p><p>A light, shaky touch to her hand stops her. Ben’s eyes are heavy-lidded and glassy from the drugs. “Rey,” he slurs, clearly fighting to stay awake. “Stay with me. Please.”</p><p>It’s then that Rey realizes that what she feels for Ben isn’t just friendship or respect anymore—it’s love.</p><p>She’s a Jedi, and she’s in love with Ben Solo. </p><p>(She doesn’t want to have to choose. Can’t she be both?)</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Reylo Week 2020 → Day 5 (May 1, 2020)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rating: M</p><p>Prompt: <b><span class="u">"Touch"</span></b></p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>After going so long without a gentle touch, and then spending a couple of years yearning for the one person they <em>couldn’t </em>touch, Ben and Rey positively revel in being able to touch each other now that there’s no war, no politics, <em>nothing </em>between them.</p><p>Ben kisses Rey <em>a lot,</em> now that he can do it without his impending death hanging over his head. He kisses her in the mornings (on the few occasions he wakes up before her), smiling against her forehead when she hums sleepily and snuggles closer. He drops quick pecks on her hair or on her lips when they brush past each other in the kitchen. He brushes his lips across her knuckles when they’re curled up together in bed at the end of the day. He kisses her on the mouth any and every chance he gets, treasuring the warmth of her in his arms and the sweetness of her on his tongue. </p><p>(And of course, he kisses her in more <em>intimate </em>spots too, loving it just as much as he loves the more mundane affection of their daily routine.)</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Rey, for her part, is a <em>big </em>fan of hand-holding and hugs. Maybe it’s the scavenger in her, the part that may never really go away after twenty years of taking what she could get and fighting tooth and nail for it. Or maybe it’s the memory of Exegol—of watching Ben fade, leaving nothing but a tattered sweater for her to clutch at. Either way, it wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that she can’t keep her hands off him. </p><p>She automatically laces their fingers together when they walk, whether they’re exploring the fields and woods behind their little cottage or stocking up on supplies at the market a quick speeder ride away. She creeps up behind Ben as he stands at the stove or sink and wraps her arms around his waist, nuzzling into his broad back and sending <em>warmth </em>and <em>contentment </em>to him through the bond. She runs her fingers through his hair when he lays his head on her breast as they lie together, sated and sleepy after their lovemaking. She still wakes with the sun, from force of habit; but she always starts the day by lingering in their bed for long minutes, just savoring the warm, solid weight of Ben in her arms <em>(at last, at last)</em>.</p><p><em>Not alone, never alone, never again,</em> they promise each other, every time they kiss, every time they touch.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Reylo Week 2020 → Day 6 (May 2, 2020)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Rating: G</p><p>Prompt: <b><span class="u">"Future"</span></b></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>After everything, when the galaxy has forgotten about them—well, as much as it can forget about the last Jedi and the former Supreme Leader of the First Order—Rey and Ben find themselves with rather a lot of free time on their hands.</p><p>They’re… adrift, in a way, at first. There was always something that needed to be done in their old lives—scavenging starships and hauling scrap; training under Luke and then following Snoke’s orders. It’s both exhilarating and a little frightening to realize that now they’re free to do things for no other reason than that they <em>want</em> to.</p><p>Rey quickly takes to gardening. She’s always loved growing things, even before she ever laid eyes on the vast green expanse of Takodana. She spends hours on her knees in the soil behind their little cottage on Naboo, planting and weeding and watering.</p><p>If it had been at all possible on Jakku, she thinks she would have kept a small plot of edible plants there. But her garden on Naboo, though small (at first), has flowers and fruits and herbs alike—it’s for pleasure first and utility second.</p><p>She tries to teach Ben, sometimes. He’s not as good at it as she is; and he often feels like his hands are too big and clumsy to handle things as fragile as plants. But he gamely joins her in the dirt anyway—because he loves her, loves watching her face light up as she talks about her plants; and maybe it’s a work in progress, but it still feels good to help something grow, rather than tear it down, for once.</p><p>Ben, for his part, takes up calligraphy again. His old pen and ink set is still on Ahch-To, and the market near their cottage doesn’t exactly have a wide selection; but he makes do. It always soothed him, back then: forming letters one precise stroke at a time, and then putting them together to make words—having control over one small thing, when it seemed nothing else was. It was, perhaps, the closest he got to meditation.</p><p>Now Ben does it <em>just because he can</em>—because he finds he actually enjoys making something, full stop, without using it as a distraction from everything else he can’t face. Naturally, he practices by writing Rey love notes and copying out verses of poetry for her, courting her the way he would have liked to, had they met like more ordinary couples did.</p><p>Rey loves to watch him write—his obvious concentration soothes her just as much as it does him. Of course, she already knows how to write; but one day, she asks him to teach her anyway. He wraps his hand around hers on the pen as he shows her one stroke after another.</p><p>Her letters don’t come out half as pretty as his; but when the ink dries, he traces the unevenly formed <em>Rey Solo</em> on the page as if it were the finest piece of art in the galaxy.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Reylo Microfics 2020</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Except for <b><span class="u">"Wrapping"</span></b> and <b><span class="u">"Merry,"</span></b> both of which are rated M, all these microfics are rated either G or T.</p><p>All prompt graphics are used with permission from the <a href="https://twitter.com/reylomicrofics">reylomicrofics twitter account</a>.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>September 29, 2020</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Rey knows she is a liability, knows she should be scouring the sacred texts for a way to sever the bond--</p><p>--but being in Ben's arms feels like the closest she's ever been to home, and after twenty years without, even the idea of shutting him out is agony.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>October 3, 2020</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Rey raises her hands, fingers hooked. Icicles burst into being, creeping sinuously over Ben's limbs and pinning him to the tree at his back.</p><p>"Game over, Solo." She comes to stand before him—close enough to see the beads of sweat trickling down his neck.</p><p>"Give it to me."</p><p>They both know he can break free at any moment. He is the fire to her water—thawing the ice would be child's play.</p><p>But the last of the Palpatines stands before him, her amber eyes roving over his face with the slow weight of a caress, finally honing in on his lips—</p><p>—so Ben does not call fire to his hands.</p><p>His reply, when it comes, is just a bit too breathless to be truly glib. "If you want the Stone of Plagueis, you're looking in the wrong place, sweetheart."</p><p>Rey tastes of petrichor and snow, but her lips move against his with a fervor to match his own.</p><p>Ben's fingertips tingle.</p><p>The ice over his arms steams, melts.</p><p>He sinks his hands into her hair as he trails kisses down the line of her arched neck.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>December 19, 2020</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Last night Ben fell asleep at his workbench amid the mess of a rush order.</p><p>Today he wakes to a fine pair of shoes, butter-smooth leather stitched evenly together.</p><p>(In the rafters, Rey sucks her pricked thumb and smiles at his bewildered delight.)</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>December 20, 2020</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Hoth's remote, a good hiding place--</p><p>--but it's also no place for a desert girl, and when the bond connects them again, Kylo leaps up and wraps his thickest blanket around Rey before she even stops shivering long enough to speak.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>December 21, 2020</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>It's kind of lumpy, and the rows are uneven, and yeah, it might not be the prettiest thing she's ever crafted--</p><p>--but it's warm, and also long enough for Rey to loop around a surprised Ben's neck and tug him down for a kiss under the mistletoe.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>December 22, 2020</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>His eyes find hers, a silent, weighty question in their brown depths. Rey nods-</p><p>-and with trembling fingers, Ben pushes away the sashes crossing over Rey's chest-</p><p>-undoes the ties of her tunic</p><p>-and presses a featherlight kiss to each pert nipple.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>December 23, 2020</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>"50,000 for him""--gold clinks on gold--"and that's just the asking price."</p><p>"I'm not asking." Rey's saber blazes, the Force whipping around her at the sight of Ben's bound, bloodied form.</p><p>"Give him to me and I'll let you live. There's a bargain for you."</p><hr/><p><strong>December 24, 2020</strong> </p><p>
  
</p><p>Twenty family and friends in the backyard, facing the arbor twined with jasmines-</p><p>Rey in a sleek sheath of ivory silk, eyes only for-</p><p>-Ben in his best suit, rigid with anticipation-</p><p>-vows of eternal love and fidelity, sealed with a kiss years in the making.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>December 26, 2020</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p></p><div class="">
  <p> </p>
  <p></p>
  <div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr">
    <p>
      <span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> "Merry Christmas, sweetheart," Ben murmurs, snuggling closer and pressing a kiss to Rey's hip. </span>
    </p>
    <p>
      <span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Rey—blissed out, the glow of firelight and fairy lights playing over her skin—smiles dreamily, sinking her fingers into her husband's dark hair. "Love you, Ben."</span>
    </p>
  </div>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
  <p></p>
  <div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr">
    <hr/>
  </div>
  <div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr">
    <p>
      <strong>December 27, 2020</strong>
    </p>
  </div>
  <div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr">
    <p>
      
    </p>
    <p>Rey waking in his arms on Exegol—smiling at him—<em>kissing</em> him—</p>
    <p>Ben's never been so thankful for anything in his life.</p>
    <p>Everything after that—Rey half-dragging him into her X-Wing, shielding him from her friends' fury—</p>
    <p>"Stop that," Rey says—gently, but with an edge of steel.</p>
    <p>She leans forward, so close that Ben's eyes nearly cross with the effort of holding her gaze.</p>
    <p>"You deserve all that and <em>more</em>, Ben Solo. You're a good man, and I love you."</p>
    <p>She holds him as he cries.</p>
  </div>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you liked anything in this compilation, please don't forget to leave a comment or kudos, or come say hi on <a href="https://twitter.com/niennathegrey">twitter</a> or <a href="niennathegrey.tumblr.com">tumblr</a>. </p><p>Thanks for reading, and here's to more Reylo-ing in the new year!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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